This was interesting to read - a study of how children 8-18 use technology. I thought you all might have some things to say.

Course, when I were a lad we didn't have any televison. We used to go down to the corner and watch the traffic lights change when we wanted to be entertained. Din't have books neither. Use to read both sides of the old labels on tins. For a treat we'd read a cereal on a packet.

Kids nowadays - don't know they've been born!

Kids like me and lee use technology for usefull things like this, but lots of kids take telly and technology forgranted. I'm glad i'm not one!

Use to read both sides of the old labels on tins.

Oooh, you had tin? Luxury. Writing and smelting hadn't been invented yet, when I was a lad.

Richard, I don't think I've ever seen you in such rare form! I like it!

Of course, we in the states don't say "telly," though we do say "TV" or sometimes "tube." I suppose you Brits would get all mixed up with calling it the "tube!"

Don't you think, though, really, that all generations had things for those kids who like to fritter? I am sure that my oldest daughter, for example, read just as much, when she was a kid, as any kid who never had a TV in the home. I remember her taking the Jane Austen collection to camp when she was 10, and she read all her books while she was there. Yet, I am sure in the early 1900s, when there was no TV, there were kids who didn't like to read, and they found other things to do.

It's the kid that makes the difference, not the times, IMHO.

we in the states don't say "telly," though we do say "TV" or sometimes "tube."

I've always called it the glass teat à la Harlin Ellison. Or Fernsehen auf der international language of love.

Of course, you knew it was a Briton who invented the first practical TV, did you not...

quote:

Originally posted by Richard English:
Of course, you knew it was a Briton who invented the first practical TV, did you not...

Are you just fishing or is that serious?

first practical TV

Should be corrected to read "first practical electromechanical television". All electronic television was the invention of others. Like many inventions there are a bunch of inventors working on things simultaneously. See Wikipedia for more information.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jheem,

From past experience here, I can only assume that he is serious.

It was the first practical television of any kind and the inventor, John Logie Baird, a Scotsman, transmitted the first ever experimental TV picture in the early 1920s (1925 I think).

His system was not a good one, although he did develop it to a sufficiently high standard that it was used for the first public TV transmissions by the BBC before the second world war.

The all-electronic system is far better and Baird's system was effectively dead by the time the war started.

(1925 I think)

The Wikipedia article to which I linked mentions that Baird transmitted a still image of Felix the Cat in February 1924 and a moving image on October 30, 1925. The first patent award for an electromechanical television apparatus was in 1889 to Paul Gottlieb Nipkow.

"A fully electronic system was first demonstrated by Philo Taylor Farnsworth in the autumn of 1927."

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jheem,

quote:

The ifrst patent award for an electromechanical television apparatus was in 1889 to Paul Gottlieb Nipkow.

Imdeed. Baird used a nipkow disc. The difference is that Nipkow never madde his system work; Baird did.

In fact, if you look at the recording of some of those very early recordings of the 40-line Baird transmissions it's surprising just how good the system was, considering its crudeness. As I said, the Beeb did use it for a few years and there were several thousand viewers in the mid-1930s.

Although Farnsworth's system was far better, to Baird goes the credit for the first working public television transmissions in the world.

This site has some great information and pictures.

quote:

John Logie Baird, a Scotsman,

Ahhh...a Scotsman! That makes more sense!

quote:

Ahhh...a Scotsman! That makes more sense! Wink

As I have tried to say many times, the United Kingdom comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. For many years the Scots have been British and Scots' (or for that matter Welsh or Northern Irish) inventions are British inventions.

They are not English inventions, - but I never claimed they were.

Where was deForest from and didn't he invent the cathode ray tube?

piece of trivia, by-the-by, DeForest Kelly who played Dr. Scott on Star Trek was named for the scientist DeForest.

As I have tried to say many times, the United Kingdom comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. For many years the Scots have been British and Scots' (or for that matter Welsh or Northern Irish) inventions are British inventions.
Yes, of course, Richard, I know that. However, I recall a recent post here (but couldn't find it because the search function is still off!), that the Scots don't always like to admit that they are British. It was that I was referring to.

I believe DeForest invented the thermionic valve (vacuum tube), of which the CRT is a variant.

There are many claimants to the invention of the CRT but the first one to actually work (in the sense that it displayed the results of cathode rays), was invented by Sir William Crookes, an Englishman, in 1878.

In 1897 a German, Karl Ferdinand Braun, invented the CRT oscilloscope, which was the true forerunner of today's CRTs.

DeForest Kelly who played Dr. Scott on Star Trek was named for the scientist DeForest

Mr Scott, the engineer, was played by the Canadian actor, James Doohan. Dr Leonard McCoy was portrayed by Mr Kelly.

Ya know, I just hate getting old.

You are of course absolutely correct. Jimmy Doohan would whack me for that one. Dr. McCoy, Bones, Leonard... sigh